LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) - Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe vetoed legislation Monday that would have required voters to show photo identification before casting a ballot, saying the measure would infringe on the people's right to vote, grow the state bureaucracy and cost too much in a tight budget year.

State law currently requires poll workers to ask for identification, but voters can still cast a ballot if they don't have one. A new Republican majority at the Legislature said that restricting access to the polls would reduce voter fraud. The bill's opponents said the measure would unfairly disenfranchise poor, elderly and minority voters.

Legislators could override Beebe's veto with a simple majority vote.

Under the proposal, Arkansas would have provided free photo IDs to voters who don't have one, costing the state an estimated $300,000.

Beebe called the Voter ID bill "an expensive solution in search of a problem." He said that while the attorney general's office couldn't say for sure how the bill would have fared if challenged in court, he feared new restrictions on voters could perhaps be unconstitutional.

"The governor also believes that the bill will unnecessarily cost taxpayers money, grow bureaucracy and risk disenfranchisement of voters," his spokesman Matt DeCample said in a statement.

In his veto letter, Beebe said Arkansas would be placed on the hook for ongoing expenses.

"At a time when some argue for the reduction of unnecessary bureaucracy and for reduced government spending, I find it ironic to be presented with a bill that increases government bureaucracy and increases government expenditures, all to address a need that has not been demonstrated," Beebe wrote. "I cannot approve such an unnecessary measure that would negatively impact one of our most precious rights as citizens."